


family visits

by remi_wolf



Series: The Life and Times of Teddy Blaseball [3]
Category: Blaseball (Video Game)
Genre: (only in how some of the description works), Body Horror, Character Study, Eldritch Abominations (Cthulhu Mythos), Except not really?, Family, Family Feels, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Season 6 Siesta, Theodore Duende's family, background Teddy/Randy, honestly yet more self-indulgent teddy fanfiction, like seriously i play teddy on twitter of course i'm going to write these character moments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:47:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26809108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/remi_wolf/pseuds/remi_wolf
Summary: Shortly after the end of Season 6, where Teddy lost Randy, and then realized he was alive, he makes a trip to his family. It's been far too long since he saw them, and especially since he saw his grandfather, probably one of the only creatures that could truly understand what he's going through. A character study in grief, and processing, and families, and trying to come to terms with one's place in the world.
Series: The Life and Times of Teddy Blaseball [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1918738
Kudos: 1
Collections: Beguilements and Distractions





	family visits

Teddy laughed, picking up his little sister as she ran up to him. She was growing up so fast, and he hated that he had to be gone so much, even if he originally left to find himself and find out what he wanted to do with his life and everything. He had found it, sure, but...here he was, missing Yazmine’s life. 

“Hey, Yaz. How are you doing?” He grinned as he looked at her and her mess of braids, making sure that she was secure on his hip as he kicked the gate closed behind him and started walking up the path to the house. 

“Well! Well, I’ve started in the blittle league team last month, and Mama also signed me up for Scouts, and school’s started, too, and Papa’s gotten me into lessons with him, and Daddy’s teaching me how to knit, so I’m really, really busy now.” Yaz nodded, her braids swinging with every nod as she counted off the activities on her fingers. Teddy couldn’t help but laugh softly as he pressed a kiss to her head. She whined softly before pouting as she looked at him. “I miss you, though. When are you coming home again?”

That hurt just a little bit, even if Yazmine didn’t really intend for it to, and Teddy frowned for a moment as he thought about it before shrugging. “I’m not sure, to be honest. I came back a few seasons ago—”

“Yeah, like  _ three  _ seasons, Teddy. I know Mama says you’re busy, and Daddy says that you’re doing real good, but I miss you.”

Teddy blinked at Yaz before sighing and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “I’ll try to come more, alright? Promise.” He frowned for a moment as he looked at her, more upset with himself than with her, and he glanced back at the path before realizing the door was right in front of him. Right. Conversation over, then. He set Yazmine down to get the door, pausing only as she ran in before following her inside. 

It had been far, far too long since he had last made it home, since he had seen his family and his Papa and Grandma, and he could feel the anxiety that had been a knot in his chest start to loosen. The staircase went on into infinity, and the hallways kept turning left, and everything made sense and he could relax. 

“Mama! Daddy! Teddy’s home!” 

Teddy took a deep breath, listening to Yazmine’s feet patter through the house as she ran off, and he glanced at his reflection in the mirror, rubbing at the black-purple-gold tracks in his cheeks, burned in from the weeks of sobbing and mourning after Randy’s incineration. They still ached at points, but he was fairly sure they were a scar at this point, a memento of the ache and hurt, even if Randy was back and safe and slowly healing. He had just pulled his glasses off, sighing at the way the marks continued to create a deep kohl-like line around his eyes, before he saw his mother walk out from a side room. 

“Theodore! Theodore Rosas, how dare you take so long to get back home!” His mother swatted his shoulder before pulling him into a tight hug, and he pressed his face against her shoulder. She smelled just like space and cinnamon, and he had missed her more than he ever thought he could. 

“Sorry, Mama. I didn’t mean to. I thought I’d have more time during the siestas, but there haven’t been as many as I thought there would be, and I was with Randy last siesta, and—”

“How is he? I thought I heard some new—”

“He’s okay. We thought he had been incinerated, but apparently the Hellmouth saved him. He’s hurt, but trying to recover. I’ll be visiting him again after I leave here.”

“That’s good. That’s good, baby.” Mama gently brushed her thumbs against his cheeks, lips pursing at the dark tear-tracks, though she didn’t comment on them, instead turning towards the living room. 

“Rafael, get over here and greet your son.”

“I’m coming, I’m coming.”

Teddy rolled his eyes at the both of them before immediately hugging his dad as he saw him. He really had missed his family. He’d have to make it a point to come more, especially if...well, whatever was going to happen to Randy actually happened. He’d have liked Randy to meet them. He still didn’t know what would happen to Randy, but he knew something awful had to be coming up, even if he and Randy didn’t act like it at all. Anything to make their last few hours and days together a little bit sweeter. Hopefully he’d be able to get some more time before the season started up.

He wanted his dad to hug Randy, too. He wanted Randy to know that his dad gave the best hugs in the world. 

“You’re crying again, Teddy..."

Teddy blinked, quickly pulling away and wiping away the ink-black tears and forcing a smile on his face. “Sorry, Dad. Hopefully I didn’t get any on your shirt.”

“It’s fine. I think you deserve it, after the season you had.”

The smile remained firmly plastered on his face, fake as it was, and he shook his head quickly. “Nah, no. No, I’m fine. I actually had a good season, after all!” He forced a bit of a laugh before shrugging. “Second place in the league this season, after all. Only lost to the first place team in playoffs, so...I think we did pretty good.”

His dad gave him a look, and the tears and smile slid off Teddy’s cheeks as he glanced away. “You know that’s not what I’m talking about. That Randy boy. Sunbeams, right?”

“Right, Dad. Sunbeams, switched to the Jazzhands in feedback, and then caught by a Rogue Umpire.”

“You liked him?”

“Loved him, Dad.”

“You going to bring him here? Meet your papa?”

Teddy shrugged at that before finally nodding. “I had thought about it. I wanted to visit on my own first, tell you and Mama first, but...but here I am. I...I don’t think that’s going to happen anymore.”

His dad frowned for a moment as he looked at Teddy, before nodding slightly. “Saw something, did he?”

Teddy could only manage the slightest nod before he shrugged. “Maybe. Won’t say. I don’t know, and we’re trying not to think about it, but...I have a bad feeling about it.”

“And you’re here with us?”

“Randy insisted.”

There were a few moments that passed in quiet before Teddy’s mama tugged him into a hug as well. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. You said the Hellmouth saved him? I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

Teddy didn’t know that, but he forced a bit of a smile onto his face. “Right. You’re right, of course, Mama.”

She smiled, a blinding, brilliant flash of white against her dark skin, and Teddy couldn’t help but smile as well, his worries very slightly assuaged for the moment. She truly had a gift that way. “Alright. Now, I’m going to finish up dinner. You go say hi to your Papa. He’s missed you, and I’m sure he’ll want to see how you’ve grown.”

Teddy rolled his eyes, looking at her for a few moments, and then looking over her shoulder towards the kitchen. “You sure you don’t need my help in the kitchen at all?”

“Yes, Teddy. Now get upstairs. You’ve kept him waiting far too long.”

It had been ages since Teddy had last seen his papa, that much really was true. Even though Teddy knew him, and knew that he didn’t anger easily, it had been years since he had seen him, even if it had only felt like a few whirlwind weeks consumed by blaseball and Randy. Hopefully, he’d understand. Well, maybe not understand, but at least pretend to. After a moment, he started up the stairs, quietly counting under his breath as he did so. Counting was very important, even if the number changed every time he walked up the staircase. It helped him relax, though, spilling over the edges of humanity and he enjoyed the sensation as he reached up to the walls and felt the cracks that spiraled and twisted beyond what his fingers could feel, and he finally looked up as he reached the last step, murmuring a quiet “sixty-two” before walking down the hallway and knocking on his grandfather’s door. 

“Theodore? That you?”

“You know it’s me, Papa. I can feel you watching me.”

There was a grin, and Teddy smiled as he walked through the door, immediately into the warm embrace of his grandfather, not even trying to comprehend his form today. He was exhausted, and even on a good day that could be difficult, and it was far easier to accept the swirling shapes that ebbed and flowed and hinted at a reality far beyond the one pushing at the four-sixteen-thirtytwo-sixtyfour-walls of the house. 

“It’s been too long.”

“Says the one that can stop time.”

His grandfather laughed, and Teddy grinned as he felt the sound scrape the inside of his skull. It really had been far, far too long since he had been home, and he could feel it. The edges of his form bled and faded almost entirely away into clouds of almost-ink, and Teddy sighed softly as he looked at the twisting shapes that wove in and out of what should have been proper walls and roof. 

“I suppose that is true, little one. You’ve been busy, though, I can tell.”

“You been watching my games?” Probably not, but it really didn’t matter, not when he felt the careful press of extended digits into his thoughts and memories, searching out the games that Teddy had played in and watched. 

“You’ve been doing well, I see.”

Teddy shrugged, not entirely sure about that, and really, under the impression that he hadn’t been doing that well at—

“You’ve yet to be killed.”

“That is true, I suppose,” Teddy murmured, slightly cowed by that. He had lived. He had lived through six seasons, five of which had been terrifying ordeals dodging peanuts and rogue umpires and then feedback and reverb and blood on top of all of that. “Pretty good, I’d say.”

“I’m concerned about those umpires.”

Teddy couldn’t help but think of Randy, nearly incinerated and only barely saved by the grace of the Hellmouth, though...how long that would last, no one really knew at all. Teddy was terrified that Randy would be gone before he could visit him again. He took a deep breath, finally figuring that he should respond, vocally at least. “Everyone is, Papa.” 

“You’re cracking, Theodore.”

Cracking was...never a good idea, as a Duende. He made a small face, feeling his needle-sharp fangs dig into his lips and gums, and he shrugged before forcing a smile. “Me? Cracking? I’m not about to do that any time soon. Promise.”

“I won’t blame you if you crack.”

“I’m not, though.”

The touch left his memories, carefully pulling away from the memory of holding Randy in Breckenridge that one night they had, before pressing into the two distinct cracks on his cheeks.

“You’re cracking, Theodore.”

Teddy didn’t exactly have anything to say against that. It wasn’t as though he could attempt to continue denying it, and it wasn’t as though he  _ wasn’t _ cracking. He knew that his form had been getting more and more fragile as blaseball grew out of control. Out of his control, to the point where it was growing increasingly clear that he wasn’t cut out to be the captain whatsoever. “I’m cracking, Papa..."

The shapes and forms in the darkness stilled, and Teddy closed his eyes, even if it didn’t truly matter that much. He could see his Papa just the same as always, considering that was how he worked, and Teddy was used to it. At least it filtered out some of the extraneous information, letting him relax and just imagine him and his unknowable grandfather in a blank space. 

“I’ll be here to help you. But you need to realize that you’re not doing well.”

“I’m fine, Papa.”

There was the press against Teddy’s existence, weights straining against the thread of his fate and existence, of millions of years of disappointment, enough to drag down civilizations, and Teddy knew that somewhere deep in the fog of this encounter, his body had collapsed onto the wooden floor. In an instant, it lifted, and Teddy couldn’t help but choke out a sob. 

“I’m sorry, Papa. I’m sorry, I just...everyone expects—”

“Theodore...Teddy, no..."

Teddy’s bones ached, even as his papa pulled him into the strangest sort of hug, apologies melting into the slight fractures that had formed in his being not even a moment ago. Teddy accepted them, of course he did, felt the tissue paper that was his existence compared to his grandfather’s rock-filled pillows. 

“I’m sorry I’ve been gone so long.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. I had forgotten. You...you know how I can be.”

“I’m just worried about everyone. I have to keep them safe.”

There was a pause, silence filled with the rifling of Teddy’s memories, pausing briefly on Allison, and Ron, and Teddy could feel the brief amusement that rested there, before moving to the others. Oliver, Malik, Farrell, everyone on the team. “You keep adopting people, Teddy.”

“Shut up.”

Teddy felt his papa laugh, chuckling deep enough that it rattled against the splinters of his shattered heart, soothing some of the sharper edges grinding against his ribs. 

“You’ve always got a bad habit of adopting strays. It’s going to get you hurt.”

Teddy sighed softly before carefully starting to pull away. The soothing presence of his papa was starting to break his bonds, and he needed to pull away before it properly started to hurt him. “It might get me hurt, Papa, but...I’ve still got to take care of them. Everyone expects that of me.”

“Just remember that you’re allowed to be selfish.”

That caused Teddy to pause, even as he watched as his papa folded himself into something more reasonable and less likely to break the house. “I...I’d like to, but I gotta watch out for them. It’s what any good team captain would do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Like, seriously. I mostly wrote this back in season 6 right after Randy died as a vague way to process it. I've been slowly chipping away at it since then, and finally I've gotten around to posting it. It...required a lot of work, considering I started this before Randy died, and then needed to adjust for Randy's death, and now finally now that Randy's back alive. Regardless of how long it's been since that happened, I wanted to get this tossed up, mostly so that I...had it up, for anyone that wanted to read it and all.   
> Oh, also, this is specifically written for the incarnation of Teddy that is @teddy_blaseball on twitter, just like all of my Theo fanfiction.


End file.
